What Mad Men Can Teach Us About Social Media Marketing

I have just discovered Mad Men. Where has this amazing television series been hiding? Ok, it’s been on my watch list for some time now (about 5 years), but I have finally crawled out of the pile of Real Housewives of Atlanta and Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Oh, the humanity!) and started watching some quality television. Not surprisingly, I have noticed some parallels with the work that is done at Blonde 2.0 and by the Sterling/Cooper gang.

Ok, so Joan Holloway isn’t swanning around and there is significantly less alcohol involved, but when it comes to the underlying methods, they remain almost the same. Technology and marketing tactics have changed the game, but there are some approaches we can apply from Don Draper and the team to social media today.

Every post you make is a chance to win over potential clients. An opportunity to connect. Conversations that you have on social media are like a potential pitch to the consumer, although technology has made delivery process faster, we need to connect every time and not miss an opportunity to make a lasting impression.

Build Relationships

At the end of the day, people still buy from people. It doesn’t matter if they are getting the message in a different way. One of the best pitches came from Don when he pitched to Kodak and made the important point that, “One must develop a deeper bond with the product.” Kodak was concerned that the new technology was boring, but Don’s pitch was authentic and he made a genuine connection with the client by getting down to their level. Not by preaching to them, but by sharing a personal story. This is what we brands, marketers and individuals need to do in social media. We are not robots and neither are the people with whom we are engaging. The need to build a relationship with the product carries over the years, no matter which platform you’re launching from.

Know Your Audience

Peggy Olson first made waves at Sterling Cooper in the first season when the lipstick company, Belle Jolie wanted to showcase their large range of different lipsticks. They thought that women wanted choice. However, by focusing on what they thought the customers that they were targeting needed, rather than what they wanted, they missed a vital point. With Peggy’s help, Don’s pitch was not that there are so many colors to choose from, but that every girl is an individual and wants to be unique. From SEO to PPC, targeting your audience is the difference between success and failure. But, before you can do that, you must first get to know who you are targeting. Get into the psyche of these people and make it personal. Make it count.

Be Creative

Technology is only the holster for your smoking gun. While social media is an amazing marketing tool it’s not the deciding factor. The content is. Facebook ’likes’ are not always measuring the success of the product, although it may be measuring the abilities of your media team.

In the 60’s it was all about capturing the attention by being creative. More than 50 years later, not much has changed except now we are looking at potentially reaching a much larget audience. The same way that Don Draper puts energy and imagination into his pitch is the same approach you should have in your social media strategy. You have been hired for your creative talent so make sure you are using it.

I like to think of my Mad Men marathon as research. As I get further into the seasons, I am sure I will come across many more similarities between us and them. In some ways it’s comforting to see that, although we are rapidly moving towards a more digitally enhanced world, the core values stay the same.

These are valuable messages that we can take away from Mad Men and apply to social media marketing today: Build Relationships, Know Your Audience and Be Creative.

So next time you’re staring blankly at your screen, do yourself a favor. Pour a whisky, inhale some cigarette smoke and transport yourself into the office of Don Draper, but most importantly, get inspired.